I have a few questions about some of your mods; Does the "Zombie" expanded steel over your windows make it feel like the all too unpleasant trip to County lock up, or does your system finally accept it and you hardly notice it from inside the van?
We hardly notice the steel. It works great for storage as we bungie a bunch of weird shaped hard to store items to them. When we're in the back, it's night time, so we can see out for security reasons if we need to (we added fog lights on the four corners of the van to help us see out, we don't use often but we've found it helps us feel safer if people begin to get curious). Additionally, we hang our curtains up, when that happens it's a mute point. We use a magnet system for the curtains which is made easy by all the steel around. If I installed them again, I'd weld in a frame then bolt the steel to the frame as opposed to welding the steel directly to the car. This would allow us to clean the windows, but it's been 9 months and we don't notice it.
All in all, we've found having it is huge. Not only does it prevent the crime of opportunity, but it's a visual that deters bad ideas. We have some fellow overlanders that added a clear film that apparently makes the windows pretty crack resistant but they would only find this out after giving it a few whacks. With all the places we park the car and sleep, the added peace of mind has allowed us a ton of flexibility in the places we choose to go. Most places I'm sure we'd have no problem, but without the added security, there are a lot of decisions that would be effected. At this point I'm rambling, but this can't be stressed enough, when travelling overland, I think goal is to design the build so that the car itself is never limiting factor in where you choose to go.
The LCD monitor, and please forgive me if this is already posted somewhere, but is it for editing your images or watching? How often have you guys used it, is it something you would add again?
The LCD monitor was for entertainment (movies and such). When we were in Mexico and stayed in RV parks and could plug the car in or in the states when the aux battery was new and could hold a charge we'd use it all the time. Now that we don't have those things we don't use it. It doesn't get in the way, and wasn't a huge expense to begin with, so there isn't too much regret, but over all, unless you have a bank of batteries, or a solar panel it's not worth the energy (pun intended).
What would you change either adding or deleting to your van, are you guys still pleased with the vehicle selection?
Overall very pleased. All of the big things we use more than enough to set off the initial cost/effort. We couldn't live without the lift and big tires, having a nice sized kitchen is huge, and the awning and mosquito net get used frequently (especially now that we're further south). It's not the best traditional overlander as it lacks a good amount of power and low end torque for the amount of weight it's carrying. But I'll be honest, with what we're doing we haven't had a place we wanted to go that the van couldn't take us. We have seen some pretty bad roads, crossed some pretty deep rivers and reached some pretty rural places.
The gas mileage hurts a bit, it would be nice to have something deisel or something that is in the 20's, but in the end, we live very comfortably, and have the ability to sleep discretely and safely. These two things have allowed us to spend the night in some pretty remarkable places. We have pirate camped in every country and with the exception of Mexico I would say it's around 70%. This definitely makes the price at the pump easier to manage.
Something I would add is definitely a solar panel. When designing I figured we'd be moving enough everyday that keeping the battery charged wouldn't be a problem. But we do choose to stay put a lot and it would be nice not having to worry about electricity. We could install it very easily with our smartpass system as it would just plug in and optimize between the alternator and the panel. Plus, we have plenty of space on the roof.
